ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

I'm patiently and diligently working my way through all of these, and so far it's all been good (surprisingly so with Doja Cat and Hayley Williams, for whom my skip button was primed). Spelling/Emeka Ogboh/Eris Drew is a great run, and Eris Drew sounds sublime, my favourite thus far.

I thought it was sprechsgesang?

they're interchangeable afaict

Finishing up this Deafheaven album and was thinking 'Other Language' sounds like the heavier songs on Paramore's s/t, e.g., 'Future' and now see Justin Meldal-Johnsen produced this record, too

Can't get into Dry Cleaning. I really like the LUM album sonically, but thematically it's just too much self-pity for me to stomach.

oh or,

Though sometimes used interchangeably, Sprechgesang is directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing (in which pitches are sung, but the articulation is rapid and loose like speech), whereas Sprechstimme is closer to speech itself (because it does not emphasise any particular pitches)

Ah, okay! I did go away to look it up but on a tired skim I didn't note the difference.

Sund4r is saying that actually sprechstimme and sprechsgegang are being horribly misused and we should feel bad, or something

https://i.imgur.com/Xonh5xE.jpg
26. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
279 points / 13 votes
Song from the album: “To Never Forget the Source”
London jazz wizard Shabaka Hutchings: Sons of Kemet / The Comet Is Coming / Shabaka & the Ancestors

nice

Voted for "To Never Forget the Source" in the tracks poll; didn't vote for the album here but I do enjoy it. Just nice grooves.

this whole post punk spoken word scene (what are calling this again?)

smokore

i did not vote in the poll but i love the dry cleaning album, while not really getting into most of the other british talk-singing indie rock bands. they are much better musically than the rest of the pack, with actual musical hooks to carry the interest without vocal hooks. but i prefer the chilly/abstract vibe of their singer to the "OI I'M ON THE DOLE AND LONDON IS RUBBISH" thing that a lot of these other bands are doing. the line "I've been thinking about eating that hotdog for hours" still cracks me up every time.

Yeah, I've not heard the whole Dry Cleaning album in full yet but their guitarist knows his onions

good to see SoK. have we passed a vote threshold or was this a low-enthusiasm choice for many?

Yeah, I've not heard the whole Dry Cleaning album in full yet but their guitarist knows his onions

― imago,

Green even!

Dry Cleaning are right at the top end of the sprechcore spectrum for me (with Yard Act right at the bottom end).

n/a otm

https://i.imgur.com/WmmKpIr.jpg
25. Erika de Casier - Sensational
283 points / 13 votes
Video from the album: “Drama”
Erika de Casier - Essentials

This one is sensational.

I think I enjoy this one even more than the first, but both are great. Her songwriting is a bit sharper here.

agreed with those upthread that the guitarist for dry cleaning makes them worth hearing, even if i don't have much time for them

this whole post punk spoken word scene (what are calling this again?)

Gabber

this whole post punk spoken word scene (what are calling this again?)

one-tone

I keep getting Dry Cleaning and Wet Leg confused. It doesn't help that the Dry Cleaning album also has "Leg" in the title.

Sprechstimme and sprechgesang are interchangeable afaik. I'm not sure I recognize the distinction made in that Wikipedia quote - the sprechstimme in Pierrot Lunaire has notated pitches with x's on them like the sprechgesang in Wozzeck. It is a technique that aiui involves attempting to hit a note, then letting go of the pitch and sliding to the next in an attempt to follow the intonation patterns found in speech - the effect, at least in the pieces I know, is closer to swoops and sighs and not at all to my ears like rap or slam poetry or Kim Gordon spoken word so these comparisons, which get made even by people with graduate degrees in music, always annoy me, like they are based purely on a literal translation of the terminology itself and not on what the music sounds like.

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyfUd7_sBdg

Detailed explanation with demonstrations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXBVu1s-5E0

too low

yeah had Schoenberg in my top ten, v disappointing

My man

This recording came out last year. Didn't hear it: https://www.discogs.com/release/18685474-Schoenberg-Patricia-Kopatchinskaja-Pierrot-Lunaire

https://i.imgur.com/U6O8Foi.jpg
24. Mr Twin Sister - Al Mundo Azul
286 points / 12 votes
Video from the album: “Beezle”
Mr Twin Sister

too low

today has been a beguiling mix of imagocore with TimFcore lol

simultaneously their most accessible and experimental work to date

ugh what a good album

this whole post punk spoken word scene (what are calling this again?)

The Fallout

the 2021 album whose vocals and lyrics reminded me of the Fall in any way at all was by audiobooks, and it wasn't nominated

this Mr Twin Sister preview track is...much livelier than I remember them being? Hypersophistipop?

Listened to that twice. Very keen to hear the rest

Same, love the production

https://i.imgur.com/6pyfevU.jpg
23. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
290 points / 10 votes
Video from the album: “Tree Among Shrubs”
thraed of smooth jazz dream pop opus ONCLE JAZZ by montreal band MEN I TRUST

amazing album, I was really blown away by their skill and talent after watching the Tiny Desk Concert for this

still one of favorite bass tones in indie pop.

Particularly in love with Serenade of Water and 5am Waltz. They have a late 90's downtempo/chillout/Boards of Canada thing going on which I wasn't expecting from them.

Love Men I Trust <3

I was thinking the other day how much I'd love to play drums in a band like that.

damn lol i had these back to back on my ballot but in reverse order (#5 & #6)

I didn't even know this was out there until the noms list, but I love it so much more than Oncle Jazz.

Btw, they're touring the untourable album this summer.

Weird that Men I Trust and Men Without Hats are both from Montreal, I wonder whether they ever play joint shows as Men I Trust Without Hats

Nice run today. I much preferred the latest Mr Twin Sister album to Salt which I never got into. I don't think I ever forgave them for leaving off Power Of Two and Echo Arms. This one comes close to the brilliance of their 2014 album.

Can't remember if I voted for Erika De Casier now. Beautiful album and a big step up from her debut.

Had a feeling Men I Trust would make it. Easily their best album yet and I ended up really loving Oncle Jazz. Great band.

https://i.imgur.com/5iZBos4.jpg
22. Dean Blunt - Black Metal 2
292 points / 9 votes / 2 #1 votes
Song from the album: “Vigil”
Dean Blunt

my number one. this particular flavor of deadpan ennui spoke to me this year, who could say why